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About

How does your involvement in the vineyard affect your decisions in the cellar? 

I’m in the vineyard almost every day.  Walking with the team, evaluating my rows of fruit, or running with my dog, I live the vintage with the vines.  In order to express a place, you have to know it and all the nuances in a way that only comes through time and experience.  This very much informs winemaking decisions.  Picking time, fermentation kinetics, even how the wines will interact with the barrels all change vintage to vintage.  Knowing the vintage helps make the minute adjustments in the cellar that make the final product that much better.

Tell us about the expansion of the winery’s tasting room in the grape growing town of Sunnyside?  

We opened our tasting room in the historic train station [of Sunnyside] for a variety of reasons.  It will be a space for us to host our guests, have winemaker dinners, and provide educational experiences.  A few years ago, we started our Syrah release party for our mailing list.  In addition to showing new wines, we wanted to get people into the vineyard.  Walking the vines is a way for people to understand DuBrul Vineyard, the Yakima Valley, and Washington as a growing region.  The Train Station tasting room will enable us to do more of this.

You recently introduced a new label called Train Station Cabernet. What’s it about?

One of the reasons we opened the Train Station tasting room was to help build the community.  Sunnyside is the place of the oldest vines in Washington State, and is currently undergoing a bit of a renaissance.  Co Dinn Cellars is building a winery in town, the Sunnyside Inn is under new management, the Summer Ale Festival is becoming an annual event, and more revitalization efforts are underway by the city.  We want to be part of that!

The Train Station Cabernet is also a nod to the history of the area.  The Train Depot was inaugurated in 1911, on a line that connected Yakima to Walla Walla.  In addition to being the transportation center, the depot was the center of many social gatherings.  We made the wine in the spirit of bringing the town together, and connecting it to people far away.

What is it like to work in a closely-knit family wine business? 

Wine is about family and friends, as much as it’s about geology, history, philosophy and style.  All those things are amplified when sharing an exceptional bottle with people you love.

Because of this, making wine with my family is much more rewarding than it would be alone.  As I mentioned before, this is a long-term game.  We are building on the work my parents started, and I hope that the next generation will take over from me.  My nieces, who are [ages] four and five, already talk about making wine.  My two-year-old nephew starts every morning saying he wants to go to the farm.  Inspiring them to learn new things is great fun!

As a family business, we treat people like family.  There have been so many people who have come up to me, reminiscing over the time my mom made them dinner on the back deck, and what a wonderful evening it was.  It’s rewarding to have our customers become friends, and to bring joy to their lives too.  That is living the dream!

What are you looking forward to in the future?

When thinking about the future, it’s hard not to reflect a bit on the past.  The last ten years have been a time of dramatic change for Washington wine, with explosive growth of plantings and wineries, development of the Wine Science Center, more educational opportunities for students, and investments from California and beyond.

I look forward to the next decade as more people venture beyond Woodinville to the grape growing areas of the state.  As wineries grow, more people outside the Northwest are drinking Washington wine.  The positive impact on our communities is so exciting, as is the growing awareness that the Yakima Valley is a special place.  We can all drink to that!.

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